The present disclosure is directed to systems and methods of compensating for thermal decay of a magnetic data storage medium. In a particular embodiment, the method includes reading a calibration track on a magnetic data storage medium to obtain a first measurement of a track characteristic. The method also includes overwriting the calibration track with a first specific data pattern and reading the calibration track to obtain a second measurement of the track characteristic. The method also includes determining whether a thermal decay rate of the calibration track is acceptable based on the first measurement and the second measurement.